Ways to check online propaganda and recruitment by such groups, and keeping hackers from sabotaging critical infrastructure are among the issues that will be high up on the agenda for Putin

India and Russia have been working on closer coordination to combat radicalisation through social media by groups like Islamic State as well as Pakistan-based outfits like LeT, Hizbul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammed.

NEW DELHI: India and Russia will likely sign a cyber-security pact during Russian President Vladimir Putin's trip to Goa next week, cementing joint efforts to curb terror-related activities in the region.

Officials of both countries said a pact in this regard is expected to be announced at the Indo-Russian annual summit in Goa on October 15. India had entered into a comprehensive cyber security relationship with the US, another permanent member of the UN Security Council, during the Commercial and Strategic Dialogue in August.

India and Russia have been working on closer coordination to combat radicalisation through social media by groups like Islamic State as well as Pakistan-based outfits like LeT, Hizbul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Ways to check online propaganda and recruitment by such groups, and keeping hackers from sabotaging critical infrastructure are among the issues that will be high up on the agenda for Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi when they meet for the Indo-Russian Annual Summit. Last year, the two countries had decided to form an expert group on cyber security and counter-terrorism.

At the summit next week, which will focus on counter-terror measures, there will be sharing of experience and expertise in the field of counter-terrorism training, the officials cited earlier said, requesting anonymity. While Russia is at the forefront of fighting the Islamic State in Syria, India had cases of youth being lured through social media to join the group.

Also, in restive Kashmir, Pakistan-based terror groups have used social media aggressively to fuel crisis since July. Meanwhile, according to Russia-based software security group Kaspersky Lab, at least 30 strategically important organisations across countries in Asia and Africa have already suffered from cybercriminal groups’ attacks. According to Kaspersky Lab researchers, the high cost, complexity and duration of the attacks give grounds to assume that the attackers have support at the government level.